Heart of England CRP

The Heart of England CRP joined community groups and volunteers across Britain for this year's Community Rail Week to encourage people to 'give the train a try'.

Community Rail Week, organised by Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, ran from the 23-29 May, and involved hundreds of community rail partnerships and volunteer groups inviting people to ‘give the train a try’.

In partnership with the Ramblers Association, the Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) and the Millennium Way Group, the Heart of England CRP has launched the first 5 out of 36 Rail Trails to encourage people to use the railways to access leisure opportunities and to explore their local areas.  Using these trails, the CRP organised 2 guided walks from the 25th – 28th May which were open to anyone to join as well as an additional walk for families from St Michael's Children and Family Centre in Bedworth.  Our tour guide, Verity Tiff, led all three walks with Monday seeing us take the train from Bedworth to Nuneaton and doing a wo-mile walk with a well-deserved stop in Riversley Park for a picnic and a play.  On Wednesday we met participants at Leamington Spa Station before travelling up to Coventry Area for a 3.5mile morning walk  to Bedworth Station.  It was amazing to be able to walk alongside the canal and discover the hidden gems of the area.  One of the highlights, was seeing the fantastic Sanctuary  at the Miners' Welfare Park.  The week finished with a 3 mile walk around historic Coventry  Walks are available to download from www.heartcommunityrail.org.uk/railtrails , with all 36 going up by the end of the summer.